Unedited Dire Straits Song Banned from Canadian Radio Airplay
After a listener to CHOZ-FM in St. John’s, NL expressed concern over the playing of the unedited “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that the unedited song cannot play on the radio.
The song mentions the term “faggot” which takes on a totally different meaning in Canada compared to the UK where the band is from, causing one person to believe that it is discrimination towards homosexuals.
The ruling comes 25 years after the song was released. In a time where political correctness was less involved in society.
A caller to Edmonton’s “Classic Rock K-97” (CIRK-FM) said that in the United Kingdom the word means “dirty little jerk” compared to the “gay slur” in North America.
In order to stand up against this topic. K-97 has posted information on their rebel to the CBSC on their website.
What about Nickelback’s “Burn it to the Ground” or “Something In Your Mouth”, of course their songs would never be taken off, because then it would be a CanCon issue (30% of all music must be Canadian, for those unaware). I strongly believe that it is not, in any way, offensive, as the British meaning is completely different from the Canadian/US meaning.
CBC has posted an interview with the CBSC’s national chair online.
January 14th, 2011 at 2:26 PM
Vaughn says:
Personally, I think the CBSC and the CRTC need to die. Globalism a-hoy!
I’ve always hated this “Proud to be Canadian” non-sense when it interferes with my ability to watch or listen to things I want to watch/listen to. Anything that compares Canadian citizens to the patriot rhetoric that plagues the U.S. is something I want nothing to do with.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:53 PM
Taylor says:
Although I completely agree that the ruling is wrong, Scott’s point about “faggot” having a different meaning in England, while true, isn’t correct in regard to this song. In the interest of accuracy the lyrics in question are below:
See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that’s his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he’s a millionaire
January 14th, 2011 at 10:56 PM
Taylor says:
Sorry Scott, I should have said I disagreed that the meaning is completely different. It is true that the meaning is different, but you can’t deny the connotations the lyrics take when considering the political climate of the day. Thats the point of music after all: perpetual relevance.
January 15th, 2011 at 12:48 PM
Scott says:
But 25 years after the song was released… And they want to ban it now? C’mon Elton John sang it…. Can’t be that much of an issue. If the LGBT community had an issue more than one person would have come forward right?
January 17th, 2011 at 11:26 AM
Dusty Melling says:
With the specific line “that little faggot with the earring and the make-up” I have a hard time believing it means “dirty little jerk” over “gay slur”. In England a fag predominantly means cigarette and I never heard it used by them to mean anything else.
“The singer, or more properly the first-person narrating character, refers to a musician “banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee” and describes a singer as “that little faggot with the earring and the make-up”, and bemoans that these artists get “money for nothing and chicks for free”. These lyrics were criticized as being sexist, racist, and homophobic, and in some later releases of the song the lyrics were edited for airplay; “faggot” for example is often replaced with “mother” (itself a shortened version of “motherfucker”).”
The “N word” was once widely accepted, and “Negro” is even a spanish word for the color black. That was okay to use for hundreds of years, and only recently it’s offensive?! Not all of the African-American population has a problem with the “N word”, and as shown by Boondocks many of them embrace it. The difference is that the singer isn’t homosexual.
Without personal attachment to the song I couldn’t care less, but I think people defending it are simply defending what they consider a “classic” with no better leverage than that. They’ve dubbed over less offensive words. Does it really mean that much to you to hear “faggot” on the radio?
I can just imagine it, a bus load of high school kids hear this song come on the radio, remember the controversial part, and everyone sings what they know, emphasizing only the offensive part just because it’s publicly okay in that specific situation to be offensive.